Classic Poem

TUNE — A Cobler there was, &c .

How happy a life does the parson possess,
Who would be no greater, nor fears to be less;
Who depends on his book and his gown for support,
And derives no preferment from conclave or court,
Derry down, &c.

Without gleb or manse settl'd on him by law,
No stipend to sue for, nor vic'rage to draw;
In discharge of his office he holds him content,
With a croft and a garden, for which he pays rent.
Derry down, &c.

With a neat little cottage and furniture plain,
And a spare room to welcome a friend now and then,
With a good humour'd wife in his fortune to share,
And ease him at all times of family care.
Derry down, &c.

With a few of the Fathers, the oldest and best,
And some modern Extracts pick'd out from the rest,
With a Bible in Latin, and Hebrew, and Greek,
To afford him instruction each day of the week.
Derry down, &c.

With a pony to carry him when he has need,
And a cow to provide him some milk to his bread;
With a mug of brown ale when he feels himself for't
And a glass of good whisky in place of red port.
Derry down, &c.

What children he has, if any are given,
He thankfully trusts to the kindness of heaven;
To religion and virtue he trains them while young,
And with such a provision he does them no wrong.
Derry down, &c.

With labour below, and with help from above,
He cares for his flock , and is blest with their love:
Tho' his living perhaps in the main may be scant,
He is sure, while, they have, that he'll ne'er be in want.
Derry down, &c.

With no worldly projects nor hurries perplext,
He sits in his closet and studies his text;
And while he converses with Moses or Paul,
He envies not bishop, nor dean in his stall.
Derry down, &c.

Not proud to the poor, nor a slave to the great,
Neither factious in church, nor pragmatic in state,
He keeps himself quiet within his own sphere,
And finds work sufficient in preaching and pray'r.
Derry down, &c.

In what little dealings he's forc'd to transact,
He determines with plainness and candour to act,
And the great point on which his ambition is set,
Is to leave at the last neither riches nor debt.
Derry down, &c.

Thus calmly he steps thro' the valley of life,
Unencumbered with wealth, and a stranger to strife;
On the bustlings around him unmov'd he can look,
And at home always pleas'd with his wife and his book.
Derry down, &c.

And when in old age he drops into the grave,
This humble remembrance he wishes to have;
" By good men respected, by the evil oft tried,
" Contented he liv'd, and lamented he died!
Derry down, &c.